Department of education considering a further reduction in pass marks

Fixing the system instead of lowering standards might be a better option, no?

Most people know that South Africa’s education system is a bit of a mess. A wide range of issues affects a huge number of students. And while passing matric in the traditional sense isn’t the begin all and end all of your future, it does set a pretty good foundation.

And while passing matric in the traditional sense isn’t the begin all and end all of your future, it does set a pretty good foundation.

Rapport reported over the weekend that Hubert Mweli, Director-General for Basic Education, has made a number of recommendations that will see the pass mark for Grade 10 and 11 learners lowered even further.

The suggestions include lowering the pass mark for home languages from 50% to 40% and the maths pass mark dropping from 40% to 30%.

Learners will also only have to achieve 30% in two subjects other than maths – with the pass mark for those subjects being 40%. The report also suggests that the requirement for maths to be passed in order to pass the year be scrapped.

South Africa’s education system has been under heavy criticism for some time. One such critic – former University of the Free State vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen – wrote a scathing Sunday Times column last year.

“We created a watered-down mathematics stream for those who, we were told, could not do maths,” Jansen wrote.

“We gave legitimacy (and a university-entrance point) to life orientation when, in the past, guidance (or the lack thereof) had no consequences.”